Take no Thought

blueheartmughalf.jpgJust as God is, and is in, the big picture, the devil is meddling in the minute details.  God’s working all things together for our good and the devil’s working everything to confusion.  It’s not so much that the enemy wants us to totally yield to him, it’s that he wants us to *not* yield to God.  Simple as that.  We don’t necessarily have to focus on the enemy’s plans, or set our eyes on him — the enemy simply desires our eyes to shift away from God — to the enemy or to ourselves, it matters not where we look or what we do — just so long as we take our eyes off the LORD.

We do this when we have something before us that needs to be taken care of or worked out or whatever.  We fret over the outcome, over the details and over the timing.  When a child of God is fretting, the enemy is delighting. For the enemy of God sees that the child of God has shifted his trust in God’s care and provision (or has ignored it).

I’ve been mulling over a talk we listened to the other night.  The speaker was talking about the passage in Matthew 6, beginning at verse 25, where the LORD is saying:  “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”  And the speaker was saying that it is a sin to worry for the LORD has commanded: take no thought…  You see, “take no thought” is one of the sweetest commands the LORD has given us.  As I have been mulling over this passage, I have come to see a couple of new angles I either hadn’t seen or I had forgotten.  Taking no thought means that we totally and completely rest in the capable care and provision of the LORD.  What’s more, when we take no thought, it’s conveyed that we have utter and complete faith in the Father and His ways, His provision, His plans, His purposes, His design, His timing — every single detail that concerns us.  When we shift our attention (regarding those particular details) and we start looking for ways to take care of our concerns, we’ve just violated the command to: “Take no thought.”  Now, it may seem as though I’m taking a passage and dissecting it and lifting out a statement and building a whole case around three words… and it may seem I’m taking a bit of liberty or the speaker we were listening to was taking liberty to say: “It’s a sin to worry.”

My husband used to say this to me.  I guess it’s why it has stayed with me over the last couple of weeks.  My husband typically does not fret over the provisions of this life.  His trust is in, and his eyes are fixed on, the LORD.  He believes and I believe it’s a sin to worry.

So, I’ve been thinking about the ‘watchcare’ of the LORD.  I’ve been thinking how He is utterly and completely aware of every single thing that pertains to each one of us… all of our quirks, our likes and dislikes, our idiosyncrasies, our past, our present, our future.  He’s intimately aware of every thought we’ve thought and every dream we’ve dreamed, every wish we’ve wished, every hope we’ve hoped and every whim, motive, desire –every scheme, every trick, every lie –every conniving thing we’ve ever done.  He knows every disappointment, every resentment, every retaliation, every denial, every distortion, every exaggeration, every hurt, every jealousy, every bitterness, every trial, every embarrassment, every loss, every shame we’ve ever experienced.  He knows every feeling of hope, of joy, of love, of fear, of excitement, of anger, of passion –everything we’ve ever felt, everything we’ve ever thought, everything we’ve ever experienced: He was there before, during and after.  Every time.  Your life is more to God than what you’re going to do, eat, drink, wear or live.  God’s so concerned about you and me that He tells us: “Take no thought.”

He’s saying: trust Me.  Please trust Me.  I am *for* you.  In Me is *yes!* for you.  I don’t mean to imply that God is saying, yes, dear, whatevvvvver you want.  No.  He’s saying trust Me, I *will* take care of you.  Count on it. Mark it. Believe it.  I am taking care of you.

To the end of that chapter, He is guiding faith.  Faith says, yes and okay.  Faith says, yes and I will.  Faith says, yes, LORD, I’m Yours and I am listening.  Faith says, no matter how things seem to be to me today… I will trust You, LORD, and I will wait on You.

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0 thoughts on “Take no Thought

  1. Thanks Pamela~ I needed that encouragement today. Our family is experiencing a tragedy as my BIL has expressed to my sister that he doesn’t want to be married anymore. They’ve been married for 18 years; my sister has never dated anyone else. She has lost the love of her life. Our entire family is suffering. But, in the midst I know I must trust the LORD for every detail. My heart is breaking.

    ~angela

  2. YES – Lori… and Amen and Amen to what you’ve said. I am thinking of Galatians 5 and 6… You know… when we walk after the Spirit, we do not mind (or tend to) the things of the flesh; but when we mind or tend to the things of the flesh, our focus has changed—Jesus has not changed, but we have shifted our eyes off Him. Thank you for the faith and not sight reminder to us all. —pamela

  3. This is what is meant when we are commanded to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh….to walk by faith, not by sight, believing God and all His fabulous promises to us!

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